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Archive: Goal Setting

George W. Bush and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg may not seem like they have a lot in common. One is a mid-60s former leader of the free world who famously called the Web "the Internets"; the other is a hoodie-wearing, twenty-something entrepreneur who runs one of the world's fastest growing technology companies.

But once a leader gets elected, the calculus changes. Rather than driving expectations up, leaders have to send them down, and then beat them. Finding the right balance between setting goals to be held accountable for and not promising too much may just be the most formidable leadership challenge leaders face--and one that's proving especially difficult for Obama.

In today's 24/7 news cycle, and with the country facing economic problems that require expedient and immediate change, a three-month grace period sounds about as archaic as FDR's fireside chats. If new elected leaders want to make an impact, they're going to have to act fast. And they're not going to get much forgiveness from a cable industry hungry for the first slip up or political gaffe.

New BP CEO Robert Dudley has not even officially started in his new job, and already he's making big changes. The incoming leader, who takes over Friday as CEO of a company struggling with the aftermath of a record oil spill, is ousting entrenched leaders, restructuring the organization and reassessing how employees earn their pay.

usiness teams, too, have a way of overlooking the possibility of their competitions' success. There's a whole genre of "disruptive innovators," a term coined by Harvard professor Clayton Christenson's work, in which companies get blindsided by unexpected competitors or new strategies of their opponents.

Using the rationale that hurrying up bonuses is a not-to-be-missed opportunity, good leadership would also include changing established practice just to reap financial gain. Not to mention flouting authority and skirting the rules to meet your needs.